赴美签证收紧:入境3月内不能变更婚姻及工作状态

State Department Tightens Rules for Visas to U.S.

自美国总统特朗普上任后，美国签证发放的各项政策正在持续收紧。

现在，新规又来了！据《纽约时报》19日报道，美国国务卿雷克斯·蒂勒森（Rex W. Tillerson）日前在一封致美国大使馆全体工作人员的电文中表示，移民局将制定新的准入门槛，即未来持合法签证入境美国的民众，在入境3个月内不得变更居留计划，包括与美国公民结婚、读书及工作。

蒂勒森在电文中表示，若擅自更改则将被视为“蓄意说谎”，而如果违反此项规定，申请人将很难延长或更改签证，且有可能直接被遣返回国。

此外，若在三个月后即变更计划也仍然处于被怀疑之列，只是不会被预先默认为对移民局的“故意误导”或“蓄意说谎”。

美国移民改革联盟发言人伊拉·梅尔曼（Ira Mehlman）表示，该组织成员将积极支持这项修改意见，认为此举能够有效防止移民法律被滥用。

但美国移民律师协会政府关系部门副主任戴安娜·里什（Diane Rish）表示，她对此持审慎态度:“对于年轻的赴美者而言，三个月是很长的时间，可能会发生很多变数，如果据此就推断他（她）是“蓄意说谎”，未免过于严苛。”

“如果有人作为游客赴美，在90天内申请结婚，并希望借此申请绿卡，那么这一申请从今往后将被驳回，这是一项重大政策调整。”里什补充道。

据悉，美国在2016年发出超1000万份签证，而这些签证对美国旅游业起到了巨大的支撑作用。

WASHINGTON — The State Department is giving immigration and consular officials new grounds to deny entry to visitors to the United States or to kick them out if they are already here.

In a cable to American embassies around the world, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson wrote that visitors who require a visa before entering the United States must then follow through on their stated plans for at least three months. If in that period they do something they failed to mention in an interview with a consular official — such as marry an American citizen, go to school or get a job — it will be presumed that they have deliberately lied.

That would make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to renew a visa, get a new one or change their status. And if they were still in the United States, it would make those visitors eligible for deportation.

Changes of plans that occur after three months may still be problematic but are not presumed to be the result of “willful misrepresentation,” the cable said. Under previous rules, a change in plans was deemed to be misrepresentation only for the first month after arrival in the United States.

Trump Administration Orders Tougher Screening of Visa Applicants MARCH 23, 2017
“If someone comes to the U.S. as a tourist, falls in love and gets married within 90 days and then applies for a green card, this means the application would be denied,” said Diane Rish, the associate director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “This is a significant policy change.”

In 2016, the United States issued more than 10 million visas, helping to support a large tourism industry. But the new rule does not generally apply to citizens of 38 countries — including most of Europe and longstanding allies like Australia, New Zealand and Japan — who do not need a visa or an explicit travel, business or educational plan before coming to the United States.

Most people from the Middle East, Africa and much of Asia do need a visa, however, and consular decisions about who gets the precious documents are among the greatest sources of tensions between the United States and these nations. In some foreign countries, hundreds line up daily outside American embassies and consulates to apply.

Travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries who have been banned from entry to the United States under an order that the Supreme Court partially allowed to go into effect in June would not be affected since they cannot receive a visa under almost any circumstances.

The new rules are part of a broad push by the Trump administration to crack down not only on illegal immigration but also to tighten restrictions on legal immigration. Earlier this month, President Trump moved to end an Obama-era program shielding from deportation about 800,000 young adults brought to the United States illegally as children, calling on Congress to find a way to continue it.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which generally advocates stricter immigration rules, said his group supported the new rule.

“It’s an effort to prevent people from abusing the legal immigration process,” Mr. Mehlman said. “The burden of proof should be on the people who say their plans have changed.”

But Ms. Rish said that a lot could change in three months for a young visitor, and that presuming that such changes arose from a deliberate lie is draconian.